World Tree News

Wangari Maathai has died

Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, which so far has planted 51 million trees and trained over 30,000 women, died on 25 September 2011.

Francis of Assisi, oil painting by Lodovico Cigoli, 1597/9. © Creative Commons License

UK Catholics: The Call to Creation

The historic ‘Call of Creation’ by St Francis of Assisi inspires Catholics today to acknowledge humanity's role as stewards of nature, not its masters.

Felix Finkbeiner delivering his speech at the UN headquarters. © Plant-for-the-Planet

UN speech: Children plant for the planet

Felix Finkbeiner giving a UN speech about the importance of forests for world climate and social justice and that nobody is too small to make a difference.

Buddhist monks in northwest Cambodia ordaining a tree. © Equator Initiative

Buddhist monks ordain trees

The monks of the Samraong Pagoda received the 2010 Equator Prize for saving evergreen forest in northwest Cambodia by ordaining venerable trees as monks.

cloud forest at the Santa María Volcano, or Gagxanul, a sacred natural site in Guatemala. © Bas Verschuuren

Protecting sacred natural sites worldwide

A global programme to protect sacred sites and their biodiversity as well as cultural practices from industrialization, urbanization, and tourism has begun.

Anne Frank’s chestnut tree will bloom again

The tree that once gave Anne Frank solace as she was hiding from the Nazis fell in a storm in August 2010, but cuttings have been taken and will be planted.